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Nanaimo, Parksville and Area

tax bump
Property tax rates being locked in across mid-Island communities
NANAIMO - Property tax rate changes either already have, or are being locked in this week, ahead of a Friday deadline. Municipal and regional governments have until May 15 to submit their updated five-year financial plans and associated property tax rate adjustments for the coming year to the provincial government. Nan...
21h ago
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Court decision
Asbestos contractor botched Ladysmith & Chemainus projects
NANAIMO - Described as disregarding the most basic regulations, a judge found a contractor guilty of several Workers Compensation Act violations he faced. Since dissolved Absolutely Above All Hazmat Solutions, operated by Christopher John Young, were both convicted on all counts nine charges he faced following a trial ...
May 10, 2026
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Ramping Up
VI Raiders begin journey towards BCFC regular season with spring camp
NANAIMO - The VI Raiders are taking steps forward to return to the top of the BCFC. The team went winless in 2023, then made a huge step forward to 4-6 in 2024 and earned a playoff spot with a 5-4-1 record in 2025. There's two months before the 2026 campaign begins but the first step was spring camp on the May 1-3 week...
May 10, 2026
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wildland tactics
VIDEO: Mid-Island fire departments hold first-ever group training exercise
NANAIMO - A massive exercise involving a majority of the regional fire departments looked to refine wildfire skills ahead of what's forecast to be a busy season. Crews from Nanaimo Fire Rescue, along with Lantzville, North Cedar, Extension, East Wellington, and Cranberry fire departments, assembled at the Nanaimo Milit...
May 09, 2026
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major milestone
30th anniversary season kicking off for Cedar Farmers Market
NANAIMO - The unofficial start of summer across the mid-Island comes Sunday.The Cedar Farmers Market will open up its 30th anniversary season on Sunday, May 10, its traditional Mother's Day start, with around 120 different local vendors staged on the former Woodbank Elementary School fields on Woobank Rd.Market executi...
May 09, 2026
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immobile vehicles
'There was just no nuance:' Gabriola advocates praise BC Ferries change on damaged EVs
GABRIOLA ISLAND - A change in procedure from BC Ferries is being welcomed by drivers of electric vehicles on island communities. Beginning Tuesday, May 19, electric vehicles needing to be towed or carried on board a BC Ferries vessel will be able to travel, provided the damage to the vehicle "does not compromise t...
May 09, 2026
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British Columbia

Vancouver's Oakridge Park mall to open May 28, part of 5-million-square-foot project
VANCOUVER - The Oakridge Park shopping mall in Vancouver, which is part of a massive retail and residential project, has set May 28 as its opening date. The project has been one of North America's biggest retail and residential construction sites, with...
12h ago
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B.C. policewomen want lawsuit, not labour arbitration, over alleged discrimination
VANCOUVER - A group of female police officers pursuing a class-action lawsuit against municipal police forces in B.C. over alleged harassment, bullying and discrimination say it is not a labour dispute, and they hope the B.C. Court of Appeal agrees. S...
14h ago
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Trans Mountain and its federal parent see case for Ottawa owning pipeline for good
There's a case to indefinitely keep the Trans Mountain pipeline in government hands, possibly alongside Indigenous partners, say the leaders of its operator and financial overseer. "It is a sovereign pipeline. It starts in Canada. It really ends in Ca...
16h ago
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Forests Minister Parmar says B.C. has flagged Middle East as emerging export market
VICTORIA - British Columbia Forests Minister Ravi Parmar says the province could be selling more wood in the Middle East among other emerging markets to curtail its dependence on the United States. Parmar announced an additional $12 million for the Cro...
16h ago
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Telus and feds announce AI data cluster in B.C. to boost 'sovereign' computing power
VANCOUVER - Canada's artificial intelligence minister says the Liberal government is aware of risks involved in a major investment in AI data centres in British Columbia, but taking such chances are necessary for the country to remain competitive globa...
17h ago
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Victims of fatal double shooting in Surrey, B.C., were 16 and 18 years old: police
SURREY - Police say two teenagers from Surrey, B.C., are dead in an apparent targeted shooting related to an ongoing gang conflict. A statement from Sgt. Freda Fong with the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says those killed on Sunday were 16 an...
18h ago
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Canada

In the news today: Hantavirus testing, Census surveys due, Habs face Sabres tonight
Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed ... Hantavirus testing might not be useful for people without symptoms: experts Health experts say it's not clear whether it's useful to test people who may have been ...
2h ago
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Hantavirus testing might not be useful for people without symptoms: experts
TORONTO - Health experts say it's not clear whether it's useful to test people who may have been exposed to hantavirus but don't have symptoms. Dr. Bonnie Henry, British Columbia's provincial health officer, says public health officials around the wor...
2h ago
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MP calls on Canadians to fill out census as some express privacy concerns
OTTAWA - As some Canadians claim that the federal government's national census violates their privacy, a Liberal member of Parliament is calling on them to fill out their 2026 census forms for the good of their communities. Canadians have been asked to...
2h ago
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'Unwanted wherever you go': New Canadian asylum law leaves some migrants in limbo
MONTREAL - When a 26-year-old Haitian mother and her young daughter crossed into Quebec from the United States through forest trails on a freezing night in January, she had dreams of a fresh start in Canada. The woman was leaving behind a country she f...
2h ago
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B.C. policewomen want lawsuit, not labour arbitration, over alleged discrimination
VANCOUVER - A group of female police officers pursuing a class-action lawsuit against municipal police forces in B.C. over alleged harassment, bullying and discrimination say it is not a labour dispute, and they hope the B.C. Court of Appeal agrees. S...
14h ago
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Federal government dismisses calls for radar sites to remain as farmland
OTTAWA - The federal government has rejected calls from some residents in southern Ontario to find other spots to set up planned Arctic over-the-horizon radar installations in order to preserve farmland. Parliament received a flurry of petitions in rec...
15h ago
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